Angel Garcia is leaving the Memphis basketball team to play professionally overseas, coach Josh Pastner said Sunday night. It's a development that led to Pastner removing the redshirt from freshman Hippolyte Tsafack because the Tigers need help in a suddenly thin frontcourt.

"Angel is a sweetheart of a person and a terrific basketball player," Pastner said. “We fully support Angel in his decision to play professional basketball in Spain and will continue to follow his career. ... We wish him all the best and happiness as he pursues his basketball career at the professional level."

Tsafack is a 6-8 freshman from Cameroon. He'll add depth to a once-deep roster that's now missing three players who were a part of the team this preseason. In addition to Garcia, Memphis has lost Jelan Kendrick permanently and Wesley Witherspoon temporarily. Kendrick, a 6-6 wing, was essentially dismissed from the team because of conduct issues. He's expected to transfer to another Division I school at the semester. Witherspoon, a 6-9 forward, had surgery last week to repair a torn meniscus. He's expected to be sidelined until mid-January.

A source close to the Memphis program told CBSSports.com on Friday that the NCAA has cleared freshmen Chris Crawford and Hippolyte Tsafack, meaning all seven prospects in Josh Pastner's heralded recruiting class will be eligible to play for the Tigers this season.

Two of the incoming players (Joe Jackson and Jelan Kendrick) were McDonald's All-Americans, and a third (Will Barton) was ranked 10th nationally in the Class of 2010 by MaxPreps.com. Add Tarik Black and Chris Crawford to the mix, and five of the seven prospects in the class were considered top 65 recruits by MaxPreps.com, which is why Memphis should be a consensus preseason Top 25 team.